


Dead and Gone

by Silverlight8



Category: Hornblower (TV)
Genre: Death, Gen, Lonely Horatio, Major character death - Freeform, poor archie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-18
Updated: 2017-08-18
Packaged: 2018-12-17 02:11:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11841792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silverlight8/pseuds/Silverlight8
Summary: After Archie dies, Horatio is left by his empty bed.





	Dead and Gone

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MidshipmanWarburton](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidshipmanWarburton/gifts).



He couldn't pretend that Archie was asleep.

Oh, but how much he wished he could; how much he wished that Archie's eyes were closed, his blue eyes, the eyes that would never sparkle at him again— 

Horatio clenched his fists momentarily, clutching the stiff, starched fabric of the bed sheet. Archie still lay on that bed, his eyes open, staring glassy-eyed at the cracked ceiling. Dead. Horatio had seen him die, had heard his last words, had watched helplessly as his friend had choked his last, tortured breath. And yet, he still tried to believe he wasn't gone, that Archie would blink, turn his head, and smile; but it was fruitless. The evidence lay before him.

His best friend's broken body, stilled forever.

"My dear friend," Horatio had whispered. Who else but the dearest friend in the world would sacrifice his name, his honour, for someone else? But now Archie was dead.

It would do no good to cry.  He'd known it was coming— they'd all known— but to know it now seemed impossible. The light still gleamed off Archie's red-gold hair; his eyes were still open; surely he would turn and look at Horatio again? 

***

But there was a sudden clink of keys in a lock, and the barred door opened. "We've come for the body," said a rough voice, breaking Horatio from his reverie, and suddenly Archie's body was being picked up, tossed on a stretcher, and taken away.

It had taken so short a time for the burial team to come. Too short a time. And Horatio knew he would never see Archie again, hear his voice, his laugh, see him walking along the deck again to  relieve him after his watch; he started out of his chair, almost as if to follow them, but the door closed and he was locked away. 

Horatio was free, but at such a cost. 

Maybe now the tears would fall? When he sat alone by the bed where his friend had died, alone in his silent disbelief, waiting for Archie to return to life? Perhaps now, when he sat hunched forward, waiting, waiting? 

And they fell. They dripped down his face, and he made no move to wipe them away.

Archie was gone, dead and gone, and he would never see him again, never hear him again. 

Gone. Dead and gone. 

 

 


End file.
